Chapter Twelve
We walked into the winding corridor of the cave-like tunnel. The roof came down low and close to our heads, and the air was colder than in other areas of the sanctum. There was an eerie feeling all around me that raised all the hairs on the back of my neck.
At the end of every dungeon crawl in every video game I’d ever played, there was always a big, bad undead boss guarding the best loot. There was a high probability that killing the boss zombie would undo the curse on Lake Balerno, so I continued onward despite my shivering nerves.
The hallway grew tight, and we had to walk single file, so I held the torch and took the lead. I could practically feel Mahini’s nerves getting rawer the deeper we went into the catacombs, but Elissa was like a breath of fresh air in the stagnant cave-like corridor.
“This has been such a fun adventure so far, don’t you think, Mahini?” Elissa whispered, and I glanced over my shoulder to see her bounce down the dark, dank tunnel with her flame-colored hair flicking from side to side.
“If you say so,” Mahini chuckled, but the smile didn’t leave her face as she followed in the red-haired beauty’s footsteps.
The path curled and twisted every few paces, so I couldn’t tell which way was up and which way was down by the time we’d walked for thirty minutes. There were also no side chambers in this direction, which was yet another difference between the previous paths we’d taken.
Then the path stopped in front of an ornately carved double iron door. It was probably eight feet tall and twice as wide, and the metal was etched with skeletal remains, runes, and other designs I’d never seen before. There were words in a foreign, ancient looking language on the center of the portal, and I imagined them warning travelers of the dangers within.
It was a good place for a new save point, so I focused on the image of the closed door and told myself this is where I would come back to when I reset.
“Let’s kick some ass, ladies.” I wiggled my eyebrows. “Keep your eyes peeled for danger, and stay behind me.”
“Yes, Great One,” Mahini replied with a small nod.
“Whatever you wish, Bash.” Elissa grinned.
We were ready.
Then I pulled on the handle to heave one side of the double doors open. The iron creaked like it hadn’t been touched in centuries, and a cloud of dust burst out from the crack as soon as it opened. I pulled it open as wide as it would go, and then I took the torch from Elissa’s hands and entered the next section of the burial sanctum.
It looked like a cave inside, but it was a fairly small chamber. The hewn rock walls circled inward to almost meet at the back, but they left a small gap big enough for us to walk through. A placard stood on top of a pile of rock to the left of the gap, so I made my way over to see what it said.
The words were in the same ancient, foreign language, but they began to blur and rearrange before my eyes. Then they settled back again, but this time it was written in English.
Tread carefully if you dare disturb the slumber of the Ancient One, for many dangers lay in wait of foolish feet.
I shook my head in awe at the predictable warning sign. There were likely lots of traps on the next leg of our journey, and definitely some kind of undead lord waiting for us at the very end.
I peered into the dark shadows of the gap with curiosity more than fear as I tried to imagine what could lay ahead of us. I was tempted to have the girls wait here, just so I could find out where all the traps were and how to avoid them. I didn’t want anything to happen to my two women. I could easily reset and bring them back to life, sure, but that didn’t mean I could forget the images and sounds associated with their deaths.
I shivered as I remembered some harrowing scenes from earlier in our quest to break the curse on Lake Balerno. While death got a little easier to handle over time, and I found myself shaking off the unsettling feeling of dying better after each occurrence, it wasn’t something I was eager for more of. I’d much rather run through the entire burial sanctum without any of us losing our lives.
Still, I was glad I was the only one of our trio with the knowledge of our previous failures. If anyone should have to carry the burden, it should be the god.
“What does it say?” Mahini asked as she stared at the placard with furrowed eyebrows. “It looks like some ancient language, can you read it?”
“Of course, I can.” I grinned. I didn’t know what magic had been used to make the placard translate itself, or why it had only done it for me and not Mahini, but who was I to look a gift placard in the mouth? “It is a warning of dangers up ahead. There’s an Ancient One we must defeat if we are to survive this challenge.”
“A-A-An Ancient One?” Elissa gulped down her fear, but her emerald eyes still showed how terrified she was at the idea of facing down a lich lord.
“Don’t be afraid, my love,” I murmured in a reassuring tone. “I will make sure nothing happens to either one of you. I’m the God of Time, remember?”
“Of course,” Elissa breathed with a sigh of relief, and her shoulders sagged a little as she let some of her fear go. “We are lucky to have you leading us. I would never be brave enough without you.”
“Of course, you would,” I laughed, and the tension in the girls’ eyes dissipated. “You were a firecracker the first time I met you.”
“He’s right,” Mahini said as she bumped her shoulder against the redhead’s. “You’re Skullcrusher, remember? You’re the fearless annihilator of the undead. What’s one more, hmm?”
Our efforts paid off, and the tiny goddess giggled.
“Alright, I feel better now, thank you both,” she informed us with a decisive nod. “Let’s go kick some ass.”
“That’s more like it!” I chuckled again, and I wrapped them both in my arms to squeeze them in a tight embrace. Then I booped Mahini’s nose, tickled Elissa under the chin, and repositioned my torch and sword in my hands.
I heard them both giggle from behind me, which lifted my spirits as I entered the tiny gap between the stone walls. They were hot on my tail, and Mahini even reached out to grasp my shoulder as we squeezed into the small space.
The tunnel wound around in a twisting, turning fashion until all sense of direction was lost, and then it widened out into a small junction lit with several torches. There were three choices of paths to take through the thick cave-like walls, and I scanned over every inch of rock trying to find an indicator of the correct path to take.
“We’ll just have to go down them all,” I muttered.
I made a new save point and took the first path to my left. It was my typical strategy, but it had worked out for me in the past.
We continued to walk for another ten minutes or so until suddenly, we came back to the room we’d just left. From what I could see, we’d come out through the far-right tunnel, which didn’t make sense since we hadn’t come to a junction to cross the middle way. We must have gone under or over it somehow, but then I realized what had happened.
We’d entered a labyrinth.
I came up with a new strategy, made a new save point, and then turned to Mahini and Elissa. They were huddled together in the light of the torches, and they peered into the darkness of the tunnels with a mixture of both fear and curiosity in their beautiful eyes.
“Alright, we’re in a labyrinth, so you two are going to stay here for a second while I figure it out.” I rubbed my hands together with excitement as I thought about all the possibilities that laid before me.
This could take a while, but I was the God of Time, so it wasn’t a problem for me.
“I want to go with you!” Mahini immediately argued.
“Me, too!” Elissa pouted.
“It will be faster and easier if I go figure it out by myself first,” I insisted. Besides, they wouldn’t even remember this conversation when I reset. “I’ll be back soon.”
Then, without another word, I trotted off into the next tunnel to see where it wound up. It came to another junction, so I took the torch and rubbed it against the entrance to the next tunnel so I’d know I’d already gone that way when I ended up back in the intersection.
I trotted forward, and then I fell straight into a pit trap. As I fell, I spotted the remains of another person caught in the spike-filled hole. It was a man, but not a very big one, and then I remembered the eight teens who had unleashed the curse on Lake Balerno.
Guess I knew what happened to them now.
Chime.
“I’ll be right back,” I told the girls without waiting for a response.
I avoided the pit trap and went a little further until I ran into a pressure plate that activated a bunch of sharp metal sticks to fill the corridor. I was pierced in three spots and shoved against the far wall like a voodoo doll.
Chime.
I repeated the exploration process a dozen more times. Along the way, I found more bodies that looked like they could be the young men from the lakeside town. I counted five of them, but I had a feeling the rest were dead as well.
I paid close attention to where I went, and I marked the way with smudges from the torch. Finally, I came across an unadorned wooden door with iron fittings. I peered inside, and I found a large, cavernous room that seemed to go on forever.
This was where I needed to go.
Chime.
“Follow behind me very closely,” I instructed the two women huddled beneath the light of the torches. “There are several traps and dangers ahead, but I know the way.”
“Yes, Great One,” Mahini breathed in a low voice as her eyes widened with awe.
“You know everything,” Elissa quipped with pride. She flicked her fiery braid over her shoulder and flipped her mace up to rest in its place. “We’d get completely lost down here without you.”
“That’s the truth,” I chuckled. “But don’t worry, I’ll show you how to get through the maze.”
“Thank you, Bash,” Elissa purred in a loving voice.
Mahini gave me a small nod, but her piercing blue eyes showed how much she trusted me.
I led them through the labyrinth and past all the traps, and to me it was the hundredth or so time I’d seen the same walls, but to the girls it was magic. I loved seeing the sideways glances they would give me as I pointed out the traps and walked through the winding tunnels like I owned the place. Elissa licked her lips with desire every time I led us through an intersection without even pausing to decide which direction to go, and Mahini’s eyes filled with longing when I stopped her from setting off a tripwire.
They were impressed, and that was exactly the outcome I’d wanted. At the end of the day, I still felt incredibly lucky to have two of the most beautiful women I’d ever seen by my sides, but it was also so comfortable it seemed like we’d been together our entire lives.
It was getting harder and harder for me to remember anything about my old life, and why would I want to? In this world, I was the God of Time, and I had Elissa and Mahini at my sides. There wasn’t much more a guy could want, except maybe to be free of the reign of the duke, but I would take care of that soon enough.
Then we arrived at the wooden door, and I made a new save point before we entered the large cavernous chamber.
My gaze swept from the throne to the room around us, and my jaw nearly dropped to the floor when I took in the height of the ceiling that rose up two stories before curving inward. The room held the rotted remains of several benches lined up in front of the dais, like this was once an audience chamber, or a place of worship. It had once been grand, but time and lack of use had caused the space to start to fall apart.
Suddenly, a slow applause echoed across the chamber, and I scanned the wide-open space to find the source of the sound. Then I saw him in the shadows.
A lich lord sat upon a throne on top of a dais on the far side of the cavernous space, and he wore a gnarly looking jagged crown upon his head. He looked massive as he lounged with one leg bent over the other, and he probably stood close to seven feet tall when he was on his feet. He seemed less decayed than the zombies we’d encountered, like some sort of magic kept him together. His thin, gray locks clung to the pale skin of his face, and he wore an ornately carved leather breast piece over his frayed tunic.
Congratulations on surviving this far, the undead king intoned inside my head. Unfortunately, your victory shall be short lived. Soon, you shall join the dead who dared venture into my hall. Leave this place before you, too, perish!
“I’m not joining any dead people,” I scoffed. “My name is Sebastian. I am the God of Time, and I demand you submit to my rule.”
The lich lord let out a dry, crackling, mirthless laugh that echoed around the room and sent shivers up my spine. I swallowed hard and reminded myself I had all the time in the world to kick this guy’s ass.
Three versus one were pretty good odds, even if our opponent was a scary undead king.
You will die before you even point your blade toward me, the lich lord declared. Then he muttered something in a strange, ancient sounding language, and skeletons and zombies began to appear out of the shadows of the room. Kill them!
There were about twenty undead surrounding us, and they were all wearing crude armor that clung to their decaying flesh. I wasn’t about to try to salvage any of their gear, though, since it would probably take a thousand lifetimes to get the stench of death off it.
“Keep your eyes peeled,” I instructed Mahini and Elissa, “and don’t let them surround you.”
“Of course, Great One,” Mahini replied with a curt nod. “I will watch your back and protect Elissa.”
“Hey, I’m getting better at taking care of myself,” Elissa pouted.
“We don’t have time for that,” I said in a stern voice. “Weapons up.”
I tossed the torch to the ground and held my feather sword at the ready. With so many undead swarming us, I wished I’d brought my shield also, but I could pick one up from my first victim.
A zombie to my right bashed his shield in a taunt, so I took him up on the challenge and charged forward.
I grabbed his shield with my left hand, parried the blow of his sword with my blade, and wrenched his shield arm off in a single yank. I held up the amputated arm that still gripped the wooden circle, and I circled my blade to break the undead’s hold on my weapon.
Then I backed up a few steps, but I saw an undead charging toward me out of the corner of my eye, and I swiveled just in time to catch a crude, rusted, two-handed axe on the shield. The first undead stabbed me in the back as soon as I turned away, though, and pain shot up my spine like the fires of hell were set loose.
Chime.
The lich lord repeated his monologue, but I attacked the shield zombie as soon as he appeared in front of me. I ripped off his arm again, and I used it to beat him off me so fast that he was in multiple pieces before the second undead lunged toward me.
I tore off the brittle remains of the undead’s hand, and I gripped the shield in my left hand just in time to block the first blow of the rusted axe. I stabbed up and under his arms straight into his heart, and when he staggered backward, I took the opening to slide my blade against his throat.
Dry, ashy crumbles fell from the wound and coated my feather sword.
“Bash!” Elissa cried out suddenly. “Help!”
I turned to see the beautiful women surrounded by undead, and a rage filled me unlike any I’d ever experienced before as I charged forward and let out a fierce battle cry.
“Die, motherfuckers!” I shouted as I ran into the line of undead. I bashed with my shield and chopped with my sword, but I was soon overwhelmed by the sheer numbers coming at me.
Then I heard Mahini’s cry of pain, and terror shot through my blood like lava.
Chime.
I took a few deep breaths to calm down my nerves as I stared at Mahini and Elissa, alive and well. I soaked in their presence like I was dehydrated, and then I opened the wooden door.
Maybe there was some kind of way to talk to the lich lord to convince him not to summon the undead.
Who was I kidding? Of course, he was always going to summon the horde, so I just had to figure out how to behead twenty undead before they hurt either one of the girls.
“I want you guys to be careful,” I instructed in a stern voice. “And stay close to me.”
“Yes, Bash,” Elissa whispered, and her emerald eyes widened with fear.
“Of course, Great One,” Mahini murmured with a bow of her head. “I will follow your lead.”
So, we entered the sanctum once more, and the lich lord intoned his ominous monologue.
“Hold up,” I said in a friendly tone. “Maybe you and I could be allies. I’m not here to do anything wrong, I was just curious.”
“Bash, what are you doing?” Elissa whispered. “What is he saying?”
“Shh,” I urged, and I shot her a reassuring smile. “Just trust me.”
The red-haired beauty gnawed her bottom lip and nodded silently, but she gripped her mace firmly and twisted her hands around it in a nervous fashion. It would have been adorable if we weren’t facing off against an undead king.
“Like I was saying,” I continued as I faced forward once more. “I came here to learn from you. Teach me the dark ways.”
You would die on your first attempt, the lich lord declared as he spread his hands for dramatic flair. My power is not meant for the living.
“How does one get your kind of power, then?” I asked in a casual tone, and I hoped I could keep him talking for a while. Knowledge was power, after all.
A sacrifice was made to the Lake Guardian, the lich lord explained before he narrowed his undead eyes at me, and a growl escaped his decayed lips. Now, you must die and surrender your life energy unto me.
Then he murmured the foreign sounding words again, and the undead horde began to appear from the shadows.
Okay, so talking got us nowhere.
Chime.
“The two of you stay out here,” I instructed Mahini and Elissa in a firm tone. “I’m going to go kill the lich lord.”
The two girls nodded silently even though I could see the desire to argue in their gorgeous eyes, but they obeyed me and remained behind while I entered the sanctum.
I charged straight for the lich lord, and I jumped up the steps of the dais to his throne in two long bounds. I managed to swing my sword and scratch from his shoulder to his collarbone before he rose on his feet and towered over me.
Then the lich lord grabbed me by the throat in one hand, and my windpipe was crushed beneath the weight of his fist. I sputtered for air while my vision grew dark.
Chime.
Undead horde it was.
“There’s going to be twenty undead coming at us,” I informed the two girls in a hurried tone. “Let’s make a triangle formation and try to stay close together. Mahini and I will sever the heads, and Elissa, you go behind and smash the skulls so they don’t get back up.”
“I can do more than that now,” the red-haired beauty pouted. “I can help more.”
“Do what you can, but don’t take unnecessary risks.” I furrowed my brow to drive in my message, and she bit her lip and nodded. “Alright, we have a plan. I don’t want either one of you to get hurt, so stay close to me.”
“Yes, Bash,” they both said in unison.
So, we entered the sanctum again, and the lich lord congratulated us in the same fashion. This time I remained silent, but he summoned the horde of undead anyway.
We prepared for the fight ahead and stood back to back. Then we inched forward little bit by little bit until I was within striking range of one of the undead. We parried swords for a second, and then I heard the sound of metal hitting metal from behind me, and I knew Mahini was also battling a zombie.
Suddenly, Elissa charged forward and swung her mace over her head, and it came crashing down on top of one of the undead. Her single blow pulverized her enemy, but then three more leapt onto her with swords and axes.
“No!” I yelled as I tried to cross the distance between us, but I was too late. Elissa was stuck full of swords like a pin cushion, and then the undead who had killed her turned to face me.
Chime.
I attempted to annihilate the undead horde too many times to count, but soon I began to memorize the movements of both the zombies and my two women. I hadn’t realized how unpredictable Elissa could be, but her fiery energy got her killed more often than not.
I ended up experimenting with her desire to pulverize, and I let her take the lead. Then I had her back up when the zombies charged toward her, and I got so good at predicting where her attackers were coming from that I practically danced around my wife as I killed zombies left and right.
One particularly successful attempt ended with all the undead taken care of, but Mahini had a deep gash on her leg that caused her to limp. I’d gotten the hang of the movements of the undead, though, and I was confident that if I tried one more time, then I could get us all through without a single scratch on us.
Chime.
I reset for what I hoped was the final time and ushered the two girls into the sanctum.
“Elissa, you take the lead,” I instructed, and I wiggled my eyebrows. “Bash anyone who gets in your way.”
“Are you sure?” she gasped, and her emerald eyes shot wide open with surprise.
“Great One, that is risky at best,” Mahini argued as a frown creased her black eyebrows. “She could be injured.”
“I’ll protect her.” I shot the desert goddess a wink. “Have no fear, my love. You are both safe with me.”
“As you wish, Great One,” Mahini acquiesced. She set her jaw into a firm line, but her blue eyes twinkled with delight.
“Are you sure?” Elissa repeated with a little more confidence in her voice.
“Absolutely.” I grinned. “You kick ass with that mace. Trust me, Skullcrusher.”
“Alright,” she said as she returned my smile. Then my feisty wife lifted the mace in her hands and wiggled it at me. “She is thirsty for brains.”
“She, huh?” I had to laugh.
Elissa shrugged. “Just feels right.”
“Most of my weapons have feminine names,” Mahini added.
“Well, let’s give the lady what she wants, shall we?” I gestured toward the wooden door, and both women nodded their agreement.
We entered the sanctum for the final time, and I listened to the lich lord’s monologue again. I remained silent so I could focus on the undead horde, but I didn’t have to wait long for the battle to begin.
As soon as the undead appeared, I ushered Elissa forward, and she roared out her battle cry and swung her mace over her head while she charged toward the closest undead. I danced around her and removed the heads of two undead who always tried to get behind her. Then I turned and stabbed the undead who always attacked Mahini in the back, which gave her the opening she needed to behead it.
Elissa would always look over her shoulder to grin at me, and this instance was no exception. Except this time, I knew there was an undead that would take advantage of her distraction to attack her, so I grabbed her, swept her off her feet, and planted a quick kiss on her soft pink lips before I set her down behind me.
“Thanks,” I chuckled, and then I had just enough time to swivel around with my feather sword and relieve the undead of its head.
Elissa giggled and bashed in the fallen undead’s skulls, but three more edged toward us.
I trotted into their ranks and zipped in between their arms to cut throats, sever heads, and remove limbs. Then Elissa followed in my wake to smash in their skulls while Mahini guarded the rear.
We continued forward into the room closer to the dais where the lich lord sat and watched us, and then there were only two undead left.
I quickly disposed of them both in a single movement with a wide swing of my feather sword, and Elissa appeared at my side to smash in their skulls. When the undead had all fallen, I scanned over the girls for injuries, but I found none.
“Wow!” Elissa gushed as she looked at the carnage around us. “That was easy!”
“Yeah… easy,” I chuckled, and then I made a new save point before I turned to judge the lich lord’s reaction to his horde dying at my hands.
He didn’t look happy.
He was glowing with arcane power, his eyes were a deep, angry red, and the jagged iron crown on his head slid down his scalp a little as he rose from his throne and towered over us.
You dare destroy my minions! the lich lord roared. You will pay for your crimes.
Then he crossed the distance between us in two great long strides, and he grabbed me by the throat and lifted me off my feet like I was a newborn puppy.
Chime.
You dare destroy my minions! the lich lord roared. You will pay for your crimes.
I had to think of something, and fast. The lich lord obviously had an immense amount of power, and I didn’t think I could beat him in single combat, so I needed to get the upper hand somehow.
I tried to throw my daggers, but they merely bounced off his ancient armor before he strangled me again. Next, I borrowed Mahini’s bow and shot arrows at him, but I could never damage him enough to keep him from grabbing me.
After several failed attempts, an idea finally struck me, and I reset to my save point in a hurry.
Chime.
I dropped my pack and rifled inside for the inferno wand.
“Get back,” I warned the girls in an urgent tone. “As far away as you can! Run!”
Then I turned, pointed the wand at the lich lord, and flicked my wrist to activate the spell. A fiery orange, red, and blue inferno exploded out from the tip of the wand and shot across the distance between me and the undead king. It splashed against his armor and melted the metal instantly, and a moment later the lich lord was engulfed in flames.
Nooo… the dying undead king moaned as he crumpled to the floor.
The flames spread across the dais and threatened to fill the chamber, and I backpedaled as fast as I could toward the iron door. I didn’t know how long the spell would last, and I wanted to get as far away from the powerful flames as I could.
Then I ran into Mahini and Elissa, who were huddled up next to the wooden door. We seemed to be out of reach of the blaze, so I let out my breath and surveyed the damage the wand had caused.
The throne was black with burn marks, and the room was filled with the smoke from the lich lord’s decayed flesh. As the smoke grew denser, it seemed to materialize into a blob above the undead king’s body.
Then it began to glow.
I inched forward to get a better look, and as I moved, the flames began to dissipate until all that remained were the blackened marks on the stone. The blob of smoke did not vanish, though, and it solidified while the glow increased until it formed the shape of a large turtle.
You have defeated the source of the lake curse, the turtle said telepathically.
I wondered for a moment if it was a ghost, a spirit, or something else different entirely.
“What just happened?” I asked as I made a new save point, and I looked down at the wand in my hand in awe. The inferno spell had been powerful enough to defeat the lich lord, but now the wand was useless. I wondered if I could repair it, or modify it in some way. It was worth keeping, in any case.
You broke the curse, O Great One of Legend, the turtle said like this was obvious. A poor soul was trapped inside the undead king, and now it is at peace.
“And who are you?” I stuck the wand into my belt and ushered the women forward with a wave of my hand.
I am the Guardian of the Lake, the turtle explained, and he did a little roll in the air. The thing had a playful energy to it, and it reminded me of springtime. The scent of water lilies came to mind, and ferns growing along the side of a lake. You have freed me, for I came to keep the poor soul company during its imprisonment inside the undead lord.
“What poor soul? Was it one of the eight boys who came from Lake Balerno?” I swallowed hard. I didn’t like the idea of killing one of the kids who’d started the curse, even if there had been no other way around it.
He was long dead before you arrived, the lake guardian explained in a kind voice. You did nothing other than free a trapped soul. He is now at peace, my child.
I shook my head in awe at what just happened. Some of the boys must have made it this far only to fall to the lich lord, who stole the souls of all its victims. I wondered if one of the undead had been the others in the coming of age party. I’d found five bodies out of the eight boys, but the other three could have made it this far and turned into some of the zombies we’d killed. There was no sense in worrying about it now, though, it was like the guardian said. They were gone, their souls were now at rest, and the curse on Lake Balerno had been broken.
Our quest was a success.
You deserve a reward for your efforts here this day, the lake guardian said after a long moment of silence. In the chest in the corner you will find a magic staff. Take it and do as you will.
Then the ethereal shape dissipated and vanished from sight like it had never existed to begin with.
I let out my breath and made a new save point right away.
“It looks like we can head back to Lake Balerno,” I explained to the two women who were giving me curious looks.
“It’s gone?” Mahini shot anxious glances to the spot where the lake guardian had appeared like she expected it to return.
“What did it say to you?” Elissa asked in an awed tone, and she rubbed her arms against her shoulders as she shivered in the chilly air.
“It just explained how the boys from the town had started the curse,” I said in a casual tone. “Let’s scavenge whatever we can find and get out of here.”
“That sounds like a good plan to me,” Mahini agreed, and her piercing blue eyes lit up. “I am ready to breathe the fresh air again.”
“Me, too,” Elissa added.
I scanned the room until I found the chest the lake guardian told me about, and I was thrilled to find it unlocked. Inside, just like the turtle had said, laid a wooden staff with a glowing white stone at the top.
I touched the crystal at the tip of the staff to activate the stats.
Durability - 95%
Weight - 1 lbs
Quality - High
Magical Aspect - Negate
Magical Ability - +5 Minor magic deflection
I wondered what the plus five meant, like could I deflect five spells or one level five spell? It was hard to tell without some experimentation, and to do that I would need to find a magic user not intent on killing me.
Maybe I would find everything I was looking for at the duke’s castle.
We searched through the rest of the room, but we didn’t come across anything else of note, and then we made our way back through the labyrinth. It took us a couple of hours to reach the entrance to the sanctum, but I was so excited to breathe the fresh air I practically ran the last leg of the journey back to Lake Balerno.
It was growing dark out, which meant we’d been inside the sanctum for most of the day, but it had still taken less time than I’d expected. Still, the walls of Lake Balerno were a sight for sore eyes by the time they came into view. The people were rejoicing in the streets as we approached, and they all turned to us and cheered when they noticed our arrival.
“Our savior!” a woman cried out.
“The Hero of the Lake!” another person shouted.
“You healed the water!” a third hollered in an excited tone.
I made my way through the crowd, and I shook all the hands of the townspeople as they thrust them at me. Everyone wanted a piece of me, and they all reached out to touch any part of me they could reach as I passed by.
Then I turned to look at the lake, and as if some magic had been performed, the waters were transformed from their gloomy, low levels, and the shore had risen several inches already. The sun was setting, and reflections of light flickered across the now clear waves. Frogs hopped along the banks, crickets chirped in the distance, and the air smelled less like death.
I’d broken the curse and saved the town, but what else could you expect from a god?
“Thank you, stranger,” Atticus greeted me with a broad smile stretched across his face. “You have saved Lake Balerno. I don’t even know how this is possible, who are you?”
“My name is Sebastian, the God of Time,” I explained. “I heard about the curse and wanted to help.”
“He is the Great One of legend,” Elissa added with a proud lift of her chin. “And my husband.”
“You have done us a grand favor,” Atticus said as his eyes opened larger than dinner plates.
“Just another day in the life of a god,” I returned with a smirk. “I met the lake guardian, and he’s a good guy. He really cares about the people who live here, and I’m sure he’s glad to be back where he belongs. Still, no one else should ever return to the sanctum. It’s cleared out, but better to be safe than sorry.”
“Why, I don’t know what to say!” Atticus looked flabbergasted by my statement, but no disbelief showed in his eyes. “How can I reward you for your bravery?”
“Bastianville is in need of a few more supplies that I couldn’t locate in the smaller towns we have travelled through,” I explained. “Perhaps a team of oxen and a plow to help us till the fields.”
“Done!” Atticus clapped his hands together and beckoned me to follow him into the main street of Lake Balerno. “And anything else that you wish! Name it, and it is yours, Great One.”
“Please,” I insisted. “Call me Bash.”
“Bash, of course, Great One,” Atticus replied absently, and then he led me through the town to the tavern. “Please, I wish to buy you a drink for your troubles.”
“Very well,” I said with a grin. “I’ll let ya.”
Elissa giggled from behind me, and Mahini just gave me a wry smile, but I knew they were both in need of refreshments after the long day we’d endured.
We had a few drinks with the mayor, and then we headed to bed. We were so tired we didn’t have the energy for any naked fun, but I promised myself I would pleasure them until they were begging me to stop first thing in the morning.
I also wanted to visit some of the craftsmen in town to see what else I could learn before we left, but we were in no hurry. If the duke sent an army to Bastianville, we’d hear about it before it reached my small little town. There had been no word about the duke in any of the villages I’d visited, so I assumed we were still good on time.
The dumb duke was probably assuming the Loser Lord was enjoying his new bride, and he wasn’t worried about his son’s absence from the castle yet.
I fell asleep with that wishful thought in my head, and I slept deep and dreamlessly. The sun looked eager as it shone through the curtain the next morning, and I stretched out with a yawn.
“Are you ready for another wonderful day?” I asked the two beautiful women curled up at my sides.
“We should see if Lake Balerno has a blacksmith,” Mahini suggested in an eager tone.
“Oooh, I want my own armor!” Elissa squealed with delight and bounded out of bed. “Come on, let’s go!”
“Slow your roll,” I chuckled. “Come back to bed for just a little while.”
I curled my finger invitingly, and Elissa giggled before she hopped back onto the mattress by my side.
“Yes, Bash, whatever you wish,” she murmured as she nuzzled her nose against mine.
“That’s right,” I murmured back, and I slid the palm of my hand along the delicate line of her jaw before I pulled her face to mine and seized her mouth in a passionate kiss.
This started a several hours long love making session that ended with the three of us in a sweaty pile of limbs.
I sighed with contentment as I stretched again, but this time I felt more ready to vacate the bed, so I crawled over my two lovers and made my way to the bathroom to relieve myself. The action sparked my memory that a master tanner lived in Lake Balerno, which had been my original reason for visiting the lakeside town anyway.
There was lots to do today, but we had all the time in the world to do it.
After we had a small breakfast, the three of us went on our shopping trip. We stopped at the blacksmith and had a custom set of armor designed for Elissa. The blacksmith was overjoyed to assist the Great One who’d broken the curse, so he insisted on doing the work for free. I wasn’t going to argue with the man, but I was more than excited to see Elissa in the sexy new gear we’d came up with for her to wear into battle.
It would protect the important parts, but it wasn’t going to leave much left to the imagination, and that was just the way I liked it. Elissa seemed pretty pleased with the design herself, and she giggled as she looked over the sketch.
There was fur lining the shoulders that ran along the back of her neck, and a leather strap ran across the bustline to protect her assets, but the abdomen was left exposed. Metal covered the arms and attached to her gauntlets, and she had designed a pair of thigh high boots to go along with the ensemble.
It didn’t take the blacksmith very long to work the metal into the pieces we needed, and a short while later we were trotting out of the shop with the finished product packaged up in my wife’s arms.
“Father is going to die when he sees me in this,” she said as she tossed her fiery curls over her shoulder. “It’s perfect.”
Then I spent some time with the master tanner, and he taught me a little bit more than I’d managed to learn from Cliff. I was far from a master myself, but I’d gotten a lot closer.
Everywhere we went, the villagers heaped gifts and food into our arms until we had to get one of the children to follow us around with baskets for the people to put stuff in. At the end of our exploration of Lake Balerno, I gave directions to Atticus on how to get all the goods they’d given us back to Bastianville.
I wanted the town to be thriving by the time I returned from my adventure.
We headed out in the afternoon, and the road was lightly populated with some other travelers. I didn’t expect any trouble, so we kept an easy gait, and I scanned the road ahead of us while we walked.
I made a new save point while the walls of Lake Balerno were still within view, though, just in case.
Elissa began to sing a sweet melody, and the birds in the trees started to call back to her as we passed. It was beautiful and majestic to hear the back and forth between my wife and the wild animals, like something out of a Disney movie.
“Arrrgh!” Several men in light leather armor suddenly came running out of the trees with swords raised, and from the raggedy looks of them, they were probably bandits. They yelled out battle cries as they came toward us, and Goliath’s ears perked up at the sound.
The poor warhorse had been left out of our last adventure, and he was ready for some action.
I drew my feather sword and clicked my heels against my steed’s flanks, and he charged forward with gusto. His head bobbed, and his mane flew in every direction as he ran straight into the first bandit. The second one ate my blade mid-yell, and the third parried the blows of my weapon a couple of times before he also fell by my hand.
Mahini was having the same kind of luck on her end, and her mule Warrior had kicked one of the bandits into a tree. Another one caught an arrow in the eye, and I whooped out a cheer when I saw him fall.
Elissa had dropped her horse’s reins, and Star swiveled around in a circle to keep the bandits away from the tiny goddess on her back. My wife pulled out her mace, but it was difficult for her to maneuver it from her steed, so I rushed over to help her.
It didn’t take us long to kill all eight men who had ambushed us, and none of us were injured, but something about it didn’t sit right with me.
The God of Time shouldn’t get ambushed. If I knew all, then surely I would be able to foresee the attack and prevent it. If I wanted to show the full extent of my power, then I needed to know ahead of time before danger appeared, so I reset back to my save point.
Chime.
The walls of Lake Balerno were still visible behind us, and the road ahead was dotted with fellow travelers, but I paid them no attention and instead called for my women to come within ear shot.
They steered their horse and mule closer to Goliath, and they both gave me a questioning look as they came up to my side.
“We are going to ambush some bandits before they can hurt anyone,” I informed them in my most god-like voice.
Time to flip the tables on those assholes and give them a taste of their own medicine.